GAME NOTES | AVCA POLL | DiG MAGAZINE POLL

MALIBU, Calif. - The top-ranked Pepperdine beach volleyball team will continue play this week in Mount Pleasant, S.C. at the College of Charleston Beach Invitational on Friday-Sunday. The Waves will start the tournament on Friday against 8th-ranked Georgia State and tournament host College of Charleston. Then on Saturday, the team will take on Mercer and UAB before ending the weekend on Sunday with a face-off against UNC-Wilmington.

DUAL 5 - #1 Pepperdine (4-0) vs. #8 Georgia State (8-1, 2-1 CCSA) | Friday, March 18 | 8 a.m. (PT) | Creekside - Mount Pleasant, S.C.

DUAL 6 - Pepperdine vs. College of Charleston (3-2) | Friday, March 18 | 10 a.m. (PT) | Creekside - Mount Pleasant, S.C.

DUAL 7 - Pepperdine vs. Mercer (4-3) | Saturday, March 19 | 5 a.m. (PT) | Creekside - Mount Pleasant, S.C.

DUAL 8 - Pepperdine vs. Alabama-Birmingham (2-5, 0-2 CCSA) | Saturday, March 19 (PT) | 8 a.m. (PT) | Creekside - Mount Pleasant, S.C.

DUAL 9 - Pepperdine vs. UNC-Wilmington (3-4) | Sunday, March 20 | 5 a.m. (PT) | Creekside - Mount Pleasant, S.C.

COVERAGE - Follow @WavesBeachVB on Twitter for score updates throughout the 2016 campaign ... Scores and recaps will be published on PepperdineSports.com at the end of each day's action.

IN THE POLLS - The Pepperdine beach volleyball squad moved up to the top-spot on the AVCA Coaches Poll this past week, after taking down four top-six ranked opponents last week, including then-ranked No. 1 USC. The two-time national championship-winning program opened the 2016 season at the No. 2-spot on the AVCA Beach Volleyball Preseason Poll. The Waves also picked up the No. 2-ranking on the DiG Magazine preseason poll, but have since moved up to No. 1 as well. The Waves first opponents on Friday, Georgia State, moved up two spots and is currently ranked 8th on the polls this week.

2016 WAVES BEACH VOLLEYBALL - The Waves opened up the 2016 campaign with quite a showing at the Pepperdine Kick-Off at Zuma Beach, going undefeated throughout four duals and taking down top-ranked USC, No. 3 Hawai'i, No. 4 Long Beach State and No. 6 UCLA. Overall, Pepperdine boasts an impressive combined .850 success rate in dual play after winning 17-of-20 matches in the opening weekend. In the number four and five positions, Waves' duo's Samantha Cash and Sarah Seiber and Madalyn Roh and Anika Wilson secured an untarnished 4-0 record in the opening weekend. The Waves' number one through three pairs each went 3-1 during the tournament. Heidi Dyer and Taylor Racich worked in the number one position, Kaity Bailey and Delaney Knudsen own the number two spot and Skylar Caputo and Corinne Quiggle held down the number three position.

LOOKING BACK - Pepperdine opened the 2016 campaign at the beginning of the month, earning the Pepperdine Kick-Off title with four straight wins including a 3-2 upset over No. 1-ranked USC on day one. The Waves also picked up 5-0 sweeps over No. 4-ranked Long Beach State and No. 6-ranked UCLA and a 4-1 win over No. 3-ranked Hawai'i to close out the weekend. In the highlight match of the weekend against the Trojans, Pepperdine went down 1-0 to start the match, but quickly rallied on court four as freshmen duo Madalyn Roh and Anika Wilson defeated the opposition with 21-13 and 21-19 set scores. The Waves then took the advantage on court two as junior Delaney Knudsen and freshman Kaity Bailey put down their opponents with 15-21, 21-18 and 15-12 final marks. To clinch the upset on court five, veteran senior Samantha Cash and junior transfer partner Sarah Seiber staged a comeback. After going down 14-21 in the first set, the Waves rallied to dominate the second set 21-11. After seeing the 15-15 mark in the third set, the duo fought it out, going point-for-point until the 20-20 mark when the home team would finish the win 22-20.

SCOUTING THE FIELD - The Waves first competition on Friday will be 8th-ranked Georgia State and tournament host College of Charleston. GSU holds an 8-1 overall record and 2-1 record in the CCSA. The team is currently on a six-match winning streak, three of which were by 5-0 decision. Georgia State has defeated No. 10-Florida International and No. 9 Stetson so far this season. COC most recently lost to Stetson, but has defeated UNCW 4-1 earlier this season. The team has not faced any ranked opposition yet and owns a 3-2 record so far this season. On day two of the tournament, Pepperdine will challenge Mercer and Alabama-Birmingham. Mercer has gone 4-3 in 2016 and is on a one-game winning streak after splitting the previous four matches. The team was defeated by Georgia State by 5-0 decision, but took down UAB three times this season already, two of which were by 3-2 results and one by a 4-1 margin. UAB has gone 2-5 overall and 0-2 in the CCSA. The team is on a three-match losing streak, including a 2-3 and 1-4 loss to Mercer. On the last day of competition, the Waves will challenge UNC-Wilmington, who has posted a 3-4 record so far this season. The team has split the last four matches, including a 5-0 loss to Stetson earlier in the season.

LOOKING AHEAD - After the weekend out east, the Waves will return home to compete in a three-team showing at Zuma Beach. The Waves will host both Cal Poly and Nebraska on March 25 with Pepperdine challenging Cal Poly at 10 a.m. and Nebraska at 12:30 p.m. in Malibu.

2015 AWARDS - Kelley Larsen and Kellie Woolever earned AVCA All-American status last season. The pair also won the Gold Bracket, Katie Messing and Corinne Quiggle won the Silver Bracket, and Samantha Cash and Leanna Schroeder won the Bronze Bracket at the Rainbow Wahine Invitational (3/7) ... Larsen and Woolever took top honors at the USAV Collegiate Challenge for the second-straight season (3/15) ... Becca Strehlow and Lara Dykstra won their first pairs title with a first-place finish in the Gold Bracket at the Palmetto Invitational ... The duo finished runner-up at the USAV Collegiate Challenge in Chula Vista ... Larsen and Woolever won the Silver Bracket at the USAV Collegiate Challenge in Hermosa Beach (4/12), while Cash and Schroeder won the Copper Bracket ... Messing earned the "Best Blocker" award at the Rainbow Wahine Invitational, while Sophie Asprey was given the "Aloha Spirit" award.

BEACH VOLLEYBALL HISTORY - The Pepperdine women's sand volleyball program has been at the forefront of the sport since it was introduced in 2012. The Waves went a perfect 14-0 in dual match play and won the inaugural AVCA Collegiate Sand Volleyball National Team Championship in Gulf Shores, Ala. Pepperdine's Caitlin Racich -- the program's first-ever scholarship recipient -- and partner Summer Ross took home the pairs national crown as well. In 2013, the Waves marched back to the national title match but fell 3-2 while playing shorthanded. The Waves returned with a vengeance in 2014, going 18-1 in route to the national championship title. The Waves boast a nation-best 14 AVCA All-Americans: Lara Dykstra (2013, 14), Lilla Frederick (2012, 13), Kim Hill (2012, 13), Kelley Larsen (2014, 15), Racich (2012, 13), Ross (2012), Becca Strehlow (2014) and Kellie Woolever (2014, 15). Hill stands as the first, and to date only, student-athlete to earn AVCA All-American first team honors in both indoor and sand volleyball in a single season. Last season, the Waves worked for an appearance in the AVCA Championship semifinals, falling to Long Beach State to end the season. The Waves enter the 2016 season with a 65-8 record.

NCAA STATUS - This season marks the first season which beach volleyball will be an NCAA-sanctioned sport, with the inaugural NCAA Championships to be held in Gulf Shores, Ala. from May 6-8. Collegiate sand volleyball completed the fourth and final year as an "emerging sport" last season. It was given 10 years to gain the minimum 40 sponsoring institutions for two years in a row to be considered an NCAA Championship sport. With requirements met in record time, sand volleyball was voted into NCAA Championship Sport status earlier this year. The NCAA will host only a team championship, and not a pairs championship.

MATTHIES - Nina Matthies' retired from coaching the indoor game following the 2013 season and finishes her 31-season run with a career record of 590-343 (.632). In the span, Matthies led the Waves to 10 conference championships and 20 NCAA Tournament appearances. She is by far the WCC's all-time winningest coach and is a 10-time WCC Coach of the Year. Matthies was among the world's top players and is a member of the Beach Volleyball Hall of Fame. In 2009, Dig Magazine rated her and former partner Linda Hanley as the second-best women's beach team of all time. She won two AIAW national championships as a player at UCLA. In 2013, she was honored by her peers as the inaugural winner of the AVCA Sand Volleyball Coach of the Year award. She enters the 2016 sand season, her fifth at the helm, with a 65-8 record. She will be assisted this season once again by Marcio Sicoli, along with newcomer volunteer coach Gustavo Rocha.

SICOLI - Marcio Sicoli is in his fifth season assisting Nina Matthies in the sand, after spending six season with her as assistant indoor volleyball coach. Sicoli is highly lauded for his approach to training and served as head coach for Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings during their gold-medal run at the 2012 London Olympics. Sicoli also served as the assistant coach for the Brazilian Olympic Women's Beach Volleyball Team from 2000 to 2004. In 2004, his team of Adriana Behar and Shelda Bede took home the silver medal in Athens. He currently serves as coach to 2016 Olympic hopefuls Walsh Jennings and April Ross.

ZUMA BEACH - The Waves call Zuma Beach "home," practicing and hosting all home events at one of Malibu's most picturesque locations. Courts are located just west of Point Dume, between Towers 2 & 3 or at the 29800 block of the Pacific Coast Highway.

#PURPOSE: Pepperdine Athletics officially launched its "Competing with Purpose" campaign during Waves Weekend 2013. The campaign highlights the commitment to our core values that student-athletes, coaches and staff dedicate themselves to daily. Competing with Purpose provides the foundation on which champions are built.

ABOUT PEPPERDINE - Pepperdine boasts a one-of-a-kind athletic department with unprecedented success for a school of its size. The Waves have won NCAA Division I championships in five different men's sports — one of just 17 schools to have accomplished this feat — and nine overall. Of this elite group, Pepperdine has the smallest undergraduate enrollment, is the only school without football and is the only university that has not been affiliated with a "major" conference. The Waves have won a total of 23 team or individual national championships in their history. Pepperdine has also earned the Division I-AAA All-Sports Trophy, an award based on postseason success that's given to the top non-football school, three times (most recently in 2011-12). Located in scenic Malibu, Calif., the university overlooks the Pacific Ocean and its campus and athletic facilities are regularly voted among the nation's most beautiful. Pepperdine, which is affiliated with the Church of Christ, ranks #54 overall on U.S. News and World Report's list of America's best colleges.